Supreme Court strikes down Karnataka law validating tainted 2011 recruitment

The Supreme Court struck down Karnataka's law validating appointments from the tainted 2011 recruitment. The ruling ends those appointments and mandates fresh recruitment with limited age relaxation.Newdelhi,Oct 29, 2026 20:00 ISTThe Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional a Karnataka law that validated appointments made through the state's tainted 2011 recruitment of gazetted probationers, news agency Press Trust of India reported.A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran held that the legislature could not override judicial decisions that had upheld the cancellation of a recruitment process marred by widespread corruption and nepotism.The court allowed appeals challenging the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022. Appointments had been made under the law despite earlier findings of serious irregularities in the selection process."We have no doubt in our minds that the subject legislation is unconstitutional. We set aside the same, as also the judgments impugned herein, both in the PIL and the writ petition filed against the order of the KAT (Karnataka Administrative Tribunal). The PIL, though not agitated by the individual who filed it, would stand allowed, transposing the appellants herein as the petitioners," the judgment said. The Supreme Court directed the Karnataka government to begin fresh recruitment for the vacancies remaining in Group A and Group B services under the existing rules.It also ordered a one-time relaxation of the age limit for specified categories of candidates. These include the six appellants, eligible candidates from the earlier selection process and petitioners in pending proceedings before the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal. "Having found the Act of 2022 unconstitutional, we cannot but observe that the appointments made pursuant to the tainted recruitment will also come to an end. The passage of a decade and a half from the initial recruitment restrains us from resuming the entire selection from the stage at which it was found tainted; i.e., after the stage of the preliminary examination," the court said.The bench directed the state government to issue a fresh recruitment notification for the vacant posts."Insofar as the persons who are continuing now, if selected, their seniority shall also be only from the date of their fresh appointment as per the selection and recruitment directed by us. However, if the persons working now get selected and appointed, the period they have been in service pursuant to their earlier appointment shall be reckoned for computation of their pension and retirement benefits," it said.The recruitment notification was issued on November 3, 2011, to fill 362 posts. Of the 1,38,307 candidates who applied, 91,667 appeared for the preliminary examination, 6,211 qualified for the main examination and 1,090 were called for interviews, according to PTI.The Karnataka government withheld the final selection list in 2013 after complaints of irregularities led to an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department.The investigation found serious manipulation of the recruitment process, including corruption and nepotism involving officials of the Karnataka Public Service Commission. The state government subsequently cancelled the recruitment, and the cancellation was upheld first by the Karnataka High Court and later by the Supreme Court.In earlier proceedings, the courts considered evidence that included call records linking candidates with commission members, identical interview marks given to several candidates and the replacement of a digital video recorder at the commission's premises, which raised concerns about the destruction of evidence.The courts also rejected the argument that candidates who were allegedly not involved in the irregularities could be separated from those implicated. They held that the integrity of the entire selection process had been compromised.More than a decade later, the Karnataka government enacted the 2022 law to validate the selection and appointments, citing the hardship faced by candidates who had not themselves been accused of wrongdoing. The law effectively sought to reverse the cancellation already upheld by the constitutional courts.Writing the judgment, Justice Chandran said the recruitment had been invalidated not merely because of procedural defects but because rampant corruption and blatant nepotism had tainted the entire process.The ruling brings the appointments made under the 2022 law to an end and requires Karnataka to conduct fresh recruitment for the remaining Group A and Group B vacancies, with a one-time age relaxation for specified candidates.- Ends